Why should we watch the coming gigs of Billie Eilish and Jo Koy in Manila? Because these artists connect well with their respective audiences.
Eilish is only 20 and yet she seems to have gone through a lot in life, the insights of which she expresses in her music.
The seven-time Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter’s second album, 2021’s Happier Than Ever, belies its title, or maybe she’s just being ironic — since the songs are sad, bitter, full of hate.
Listening to it on Spotify at midnight, I hear a woman pouring out the frustrations of her lovelorn heart, not hysterically but rather in a soft, contemplative manner.
COURTESY
OF LIVE NATION
Billie Eilish performs 13 August at MoA Arena.
And yet there’s a sense of catharsis — amid the gloom is an image of the protagonist heaving a sigh of relief and picking herself up and rising with the sun with a Mona Lisa smile.
In Rolling Stone’s 17 June 2021 cover story, “Billie Eilish and the pursuit of happiness,” writer Brittany Spanos quotes the artist:
“My mom was saying this yesterday,” Eilish says. “When you’re happier than ever, that doesn’t mean you’re the happiest that anyone’s ever been. It means you’re happier than you were before.”
The story continues: “After an adolescence plagued with depression, body dysmorphia, self-harm and suicidal thoughts, Eilish started feeling better in the summer of 2019, while on tour in Europe. It was shortly after the release of When We All Fall Asleep, and she was seeing a therapist, had just broken up with a boyfriend, and was joined on the road with one of her best friends (as well as, of course, her parents and brother).”
“I was thriving,” she says. “I felt exactly like who I was. Everything around me was exactly how it was supposed to be. I felt like I was getting better. I felt happier than ever. And I tried to continue that.”
But she gets affected by the conflicts in her songs.
“She stopped listening to ‘Your Power’ after it came out. ‘I don’t know. Something changes,’ she says, still confused by her own habit.
“The song has already taken on a life of its own, so she doesn’t have many expectations for how people will react to the rest of the
as-yet-unheard songs. She’d like to make a visual for each track, and plans to embark on a world tour at some point.
“She has one other wish for her new music. ‘I hope people break up with their boyfriends because of it,’ she says, with only the slightest tinge of humor. ‘And I hope they don’t get taken advantage of.’”
Billie Eilish performs on 13 August at the SM Mall of Asia (MoA) Arena.
Concert promoter Live Nation Philippines has issued a reminder about old tickets that were purchased for the original date that was postponed:
Please refund your BILLIE EILISH “WHERE DO WE GO?” tickets as they will not be honored at the Happier Than Ever the World Tour 2022 Show.
Cash payment transactions: Register at smtickets.com/refund/ and choose the preferred date of your refund. Do not forget to bring your actual/physical tickets on the date of your refund. NO REFUND SCHEDULE, NO REFUND.
Cash payment method for provincial ticket buyers: Please email customercare@smtickets.com with the subject line Refund Request: (BILLIE EILISH 2020), and SM Tickets will send instructions and requirements on how to refund.
Credit Card/Debit Card payment transactions: E-mail your Claim Ticket Voucher or clear scan/picture of the tickets and send it to customercare@smtickets.com with the subject line: Reversal Request: (BILLIE EILISH 2020). Please note, card charge reversals may take 30 to 60 days.
Big news
As for Jo Koy, the big news is that Steven Spielberg is behind the Filipino-American stand-up comic’s Hollywood debut movie, Easter Sunday, which opens 5 August in the United States.
Jo Koy has paid his dues in comedy clubs and Netflix streams his shows. His packed 2019 performance in Manila was a riot. But read about his setbacks in this excerpt from Variety on 1 August:
“What was the journey like getting this film off the ground? How did you handle rejection?”
“I would get ‘no’ all the time, but it didn’t make sense to me with the numbers I was getting on the road. Why am I selling 18 shows out in a row, or 12 shows in a row in Texas, and for some reason you’re telling everyone that it’s too specific? There came a time, for some reason, that Netflix wasn’t going to offer a special to me. I didn’t understand why and I didn’t care.
“So, I paid for Live from Seattle myself. I was going to shoot it and cut it myself and bring it to them. A few days before we were about to shoot, we had cameras, directors and everybody, and they called my manager and said, ‘Hey, we heard Jo Koy is shooting a special. We want to let you know that we don’t want it.’ You’ve not even seen it yet, and you’re saying no? But I brought it to them and they finally bought it. But those are the hoops and boundaries I had to go through just so that Filipinos can be heard.
“I’m glad I did that, because that’s how I got ‘Comin’ in Hot’ (2019) and Spielberg saw it. He said, ‘Oh my god, this is hilarious, let’s do something with it.’”
Jo Koy’s Funny is Funny World Tour goes to MoA Arena on 31 August.